Monday 31 December 2012

{Happy New Year}

For the first time in absolutely ages (maybe ever!) I'm having a quiet night in for New Years all on my own (well, with the kids, but they'll be asleep shortly!).

If I was more organised I'd have made a sparkly cupcake like this for me to enjoy!! Although I'll be asleep before the bells no doubt!!

We've had a lazy pyjama day at the house, with the afternoon being spent waiting on the gas engineer to fix the hot water (which he's done thankfully!).

The only thing done today to mark the occasion was the smoothie mocktails with party straws that we had whilst propped up at the breakfast bar!!



Anyway, enjoy your evening, whatever you may be doing....

Here's to a great 2013 :-)


Sunday 30 December 2012

{Goodbye 2012}

Well, it's been one hell of a year, that's for sure!

There have been ups and downs, and thankfully I'm still in one piece & here to tell the tale.

Here's a quick summary of some of the happenings of the past year...

January


February


March


April



May


June




July


August




October





November


Bonfire night party at my house - complete with sparklers, Chinese lanterns and toasted marshmallows!


December


Thursday 27 December 2012

{Highs and Lows of 2012}

Kate  over at Kate on Thin Ice has started a great blog hop meme-thing  asking what our highs and lows of 2012 were.

So here are my answers to her all important questions...

1. What was your happiest event?

There have been a few big events this year for the Glasgow Mummy family. One of the happiest was my little sister's wedding, and in the run up to the wedding there was an amazing circus-themed hen party. Others include my daughter's first birthday party where we hosted an afternoon tea party at the house. There was also my son's 3rd birthday, one of my best friend's weddings, attending the Scottish Fashion Awards and even some of the smallest of things have been the happiest of days... such as taking the kids to the local park after what felt like weeks of bad weather.

2. What was the saddest thing to happen?

Saying goodbye to one of my best friends who emigrated to Australia in October. I miss you guys so much.

3. What was the most unlikely thing to happen that actually went ahead and did?

Hmmm... this is the question that I've found to be the toughest, and have left it last to complete.

There were a lot of things that at the start of 2012 I thought were unlikely. I saw in the New Year as a newly single mum with two screaming, ill babies (I'm so grateful to Becky who came over with her husband to keep me company that night). I had no idea how the year would pan out and at the time I thought I'd never be happy. But here I am, smiling and feeling very positive about 2013. What a difference a year makes... 


4. Who let you down?

I'd probably say I've let myself down at times. I wish I was more assertive and a bit stronger for dealing with difficult situations. I've come through a lot, but I think I've still got a way to go.

5. Who supported you?

My friends have been amazing...old & new, real & virtual... and my best friend, who just also happens to be my sister.

6. Tell us one thing you learned.

I can't do it all. It's much harder as a single mummy than I thought it was going to be.

7. Tell us one thing that made you laugh.

I laugh a lot. Sometimes at the littlest of things. This weekend I had my sister and her husband staying with us, and what a laugh it was. One word for you Ali... gestunken!! (You had to be there!!)

8. Tell us one thing that made you cry.

As well as the laughter this year, there has been a lot of tears. Sometimes over big things, and others over sad movies or songs. Tears were also shed in the back of a police van...!!

9. Tell us three things your child or children did to make you feel proud.

My children amaze me every day & I'm so proud of them!

My daughter is learning new words and constantly surprises me with little phrases that she's picked up. The other day she said 'love you mummy' for the first time and I was a very proud parent!

We knew at the start of the year that my son needed glasses to help correct a squint. More recently he has been a super star and has adapted so quickly to wearing his new specs and has been an angel at his check-up appointments.

Both my children are very polite - they say please and thank you (littlest needs prompted still) and just this afternoon, after a friend had visited with her kids, my son said to her daughter as they were leaving (without prompting) - 'thank you for coming to play with me'. That made me proud :-)

10. Tell us one thing that made you proud of yourself.

In May I ran my first ever race, and I properly jumped in at the deep end with a half marathon! I completed the race in 2 hours 12 minutes - I'm really proud of my efforts and we (my sister, her colleague and I) managed to raise a whopping £4500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

11. Tell us one challenge you overcame.

I guess one of the challenges I faced was to maintain my new figure. After a dramatic weight loss at the end of 2011, was it possible to keep the weight off?? I'm pleased to say that yes, I'm still a size 10. Although I have put on a stone over the year, but I actually think I was too skinny at one point. If I can lose 7 lbs again I'll be very happy.

There have also been parenting things that I perceived as challenges, such as ditching the baby bottles, but it was actually much easier than I thought. Next challenge is to get the toddler to ditch his dummy!!

12. Tell us three things you would like to change about your life in 2013.

I've been giving much thought to my New Years resolutions these past few days.

One is that I'd like to get more organised. This is mainly to do with food - meal planning & cooking from scratch. But also includes planning ahead with friends and family for play dates, visits etc.

Another is that I'd like to bake more regularly with the kids. Ideally once a week, but I think I'll aim for fortnightly to start with.


My final thing would be that I'd like to make further progress with my 35 at 35 list. So far I've ticked off 7 items on my list, but I've still a lot to do!! I already have one item lined up for January, and hopefully another for the springtime. Watch this space!!

Anyone can take part, and Kate has already tagged a multitude of bloggers - some of whom I would have tagged. So if you would like to be tagged, please let me know.



Saturday 22 December 2012

{My Style}

I've been giving my hairstyle a lot of thought lately... My style has changed a lot since the breakdown of my marriage and I am trying to make the effort to dress well. I've worked hard to lose the baby weight (although it's slowly creeping back on) and I now have a capsule wardrobe of pieces of clothing that I love to wear.

Is it time now for a change of hairstyle again?

When I was younger I changed my hairstyle frequently. Dying my hair various shades of red, plum, blonde & brunette and with styles that were long, short, spikes, shaved, curls...some worked, others less so!!

That's me... far right...with the horrendous mushroom hair-do!!

The perfect bob??

My natural hair colour - I think! Sans fringe, short bob

Asymmetric

Bleached, short & spikey

Super-short & blonde

Pre-wedding (I was growing my hair for my big day so I could have it up in a bun, but now realise I definitely need a fringe of some sort!!)

My hen party... very blonde & curled!

Mid-brunette with a fringe

Dark brown, short bob (with the lovely Becky from Olive Dragonfly)

Brunette with some highlights, and a fake tan!

Curled for the ODP party :-)


Growing my hair still...

Big & bouffant for the work's Christmas party :-)

I've been conservative with my hairstyle since qualifying from university, and I've twice reverted back to brunette from my usual blonde...but I've always gone back to blonde. I guess the saying is true...blondes do have more fun! I've been growing my hair this past year, but I'm not sure what my end point is and I'm unsure of what style I'm trying to achieve.

My little sister recently chopped her hair and I'm wondering if I should do something different too...

Hmmm...decisions, decisions!


What would my ideal be - I'm still not sure?!?!?

Even longer? {image source}

Blonde? {image source}

Brunette? {image source}

Short bob? {image source}


Tuesday 18 December 2012

{Merry Christmas}

Christmas is literally around the corner...just 7 more sleeps! We are very excited here at the Glasgow Mummy house :-)

Last Christmas I put together a photo card for friends and family using a Vol 25 template. I did the same this year using one of the room templates. Seriously, I love all these designs!

I managed to persuade the little ones to get into their Christmas outfits (star jumper is from M&S, tutu from Next and stripy tights from Baby Gap) and took a few quick snaps, which I think actually turned out ok. Phew!

Here is our card:


Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!



Monday 17 December 2012

{Snow, Santa & Sledging - Xscape Glasgow}

I was very kindly invited to take the kids along to Xscape for the morning to check out their soft play area, Gambado, visit Santa at his grotto on the slopes and have a bite to eat at the newly refurbished Bar Varia cafe.

I'd never taken the kids to Xscape before, so I was interested to see what it was like for young children (bearing in mind my little ones are 3 years and 1.5 years). I invited their dad along to join us for the morning. He was yet to take them to see Santa, and I thought he would appreciate the experience (and I also was thinking that I'd need a spare pair of hands to keep on top of the two kiddies in such a busy complex). He is also of the opinion that we should spend time together with the children even though we are not a couple anymore, whereas I feel the opposite - more on this later!

Anyway, on with the review! Xscape is great in terms of its location - easy to get to from the motorway and we got parked with no issues (we visited on Sunday and arrived shortly after 9.30am).

This was my first time at Gambado, and I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed. I think perhaps this may be down to the ages of my little ones, as the soft play area was so spread out that I had to keep moving around to keep track of the location of them! No sitting around to enjoy my cup of tea!! We purchased some breakfast rolls from the cafe... the service was poor, the two rolls took 20 minutes to arrive and they managed to get the order wrong too. There were a lot of ride-on machines located in the centre which you had to pay for (cue shouts from son for 'more pennies please') and I found my two spent more time climbing on these than in the actual soft play sections.

On a positive note however, the go-karts were great fun (no extra fee was needed either) and my 3 year old had a blast on the blue motorbike, and he did have a couple of shots on the massive slide which he also loved!! I particularly liked the sensory area and the role play area with dressing up clothes, kitchen etc.

I wouldn't be comfortable taking the kids there on my own, I would definitely need an extra pair of hands for assistance! I'm sure though that the soft play would be great for parents of slightly older children that are a bit more independent. My son did proclaim that it was the best soft play ever!

Trying out the arcade games!

On the go-karts!!

After Gambado, we rushed along to the Snow Factor to be met by Santa's elves. There was an area set-up in Bar Varia where we could colour pictures of Santa and write our letters to him whilst waiting for our turn. We didn't wait long before being taken then onto the slopes to Santa's grotto. We had a family photograph taken with Santa (slightly awkward!) and then I sledged with my son back down to the centre with our gift stockings in tow! I think the Santa at Eden Mill was better (less rushed) but this experience was made more special by the fact that we were on the snow (& I secretly loved the sledging part afterwards!). 

Checking out the snowman on the way to the grotto.

Sledging after our Santa visit!!! (hopefully this works ok - my first video on my blog!!)

We then had half an hour or so to wait before lunch was served at the Bar Varia cafe. The staff were great though and brought us over colouring sheets and crayons to keep the kids amused. As soon as it got a bit nearer midday, our waitress came over to take our order (without me having to ask her, which was fab - very impressed with the staff) and our food arrived really promptly. I ordered a chicken burger with chorizo, and it was yum.

Lunch :-)

No relaxing lunch for me then!!

Overall, we had a lovely morning and although I may not take the kids back to Gambado until they're a bit older, I would certainly go back to the Bar Varia cafe and check out all the other activities that are available at Xscape (bowling, cinema etc).

That afternoon I was kiddie-free and I left the kids to spend the rest of their Sunday at their dad's house. Thankfully my daughter was asleep, but I had to leave my son screaming for me not to go. I'm of the opinion that by spending time with their dad I'm just confusing them and that we should be doing activities like this separately. I don't understand why he seems to think it's better for us to do things as a 'family'. Yes, when they are older and understand the situation we might be able to do things together, but for the moment I think it's a bad idea. Having to leave a screaming child has just reinforced this. When we have a swift business-like changeover there are not normally that many tears and/or tantrums. 

What are your thoughts, and have you checked out the activities on offer at Xscape?

The morning of activities was organised for me and we received free entry into Gambado, our visit to see Santa and lunch as part of the review. As always, opinions are my own.





Saturday 15 December 2012

{Fallen Angel}

On Tuesday this week I was working the late shift at work, and so when the doorbell went in the morning I knew it would be the postman with another delivery for me and I was pleased that I wouldn't need to make yet another trip to the depot for a missed package! (I'm supposedly their best customer and the guy knew my house number last time I was there without me even needing to hand over my ticket! Spot the online shopper!!). 

Anyway, I was rushing a bit, but was intrigued to see what was inside the large white box that had arrived. I grabbed the kitchen scissors and cut open the package. As I peeled back the layers, I was found this staring back at me:


I freaked out slightly. My initial thoughts were that I have a crazy stalker... who would send someone an armless angel??

However, when I removed the angel from the box, I did discover her arms at the bottom of the box, so I guessed she must have been damaged in transit.

For the life of me I could not figure out who it was from. The invoice that came with the angel had my own address as the invoice address and the shipping address. There was also no gift note or message. I called the company and they agreed to send me another one that day, and all they could tell me was the last three digits of the mobile phone number associated with the order. This didn't help me either!!

The person had to know me, because I didn't have an angel on my Christmas tree and my tree decorations were all gold and so the angel was a perfect gift.

I texted and tweeted a few people, but they confirmed that it wasn't them... so I was getting in more and more of a muddle.

That evening I was meeting some of my mummy friends for a Christmas dinner in town, and I had started to think that it was maybe my good friend Kath (who is always doing lovely things for me... like when she bought me a beautiful scented candle after reading that the light was not there at the end of my tunnel) and it turns out, yes, the angel was a gift from her.


She had tried to write a lovely message to accompany the angel... acknowledging the rubbish Christmas I had last year, but here was an angel to watch over me this year... but when she got to the payment page it popped up saying gift messages weren't accepted for this item and she had planned to text me the message but forgot. Hence the confusion on my part!

The story ends well however, and I now have a lovely angel in my living room to watch over me and the kids. Thank you Kath for being so thoughtful and kind.


Beauty with a Conscious

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